People v. Wells

HOUSER, J.

Although not in complete harmony with the testimony that was given by each of the several “eye-witnesses ’ ’ to the important incidents which preceded and led to the death of one Price at the hands of defendant, an examination of the transcript of the evidence that was adduced on the trial of the action warrants the conclusion that the jury was justified in its implied belief that the following facts had been established, to wit:

So-called “Negro Quarters” are situated in a “clearing” that lies about three-fourths of a mile from the town of Quincy. Apparently the “quarters” consist of two rows of small houses or cabins, in size about fifteen by twenty feet, one row being opposite the other. Number 13, of one of such rows, was occupied by defendant and his wife. A man named Bullock with his wife, lived in number 11, which was separated from number 13 by a distance of about sixty-eight and one-half feet, within which intervening space one other cabin, number 12, was located. At approximately 7:30 o’clock P. M. on a day in the latter part of June, while it was “first dusk”, at a point near the rear of Bullock’s cabin (number 11), defendant accosted Price in a friendly manner and then and there in the presence of Bullock asked Price to repay to defendant the sum of one dollar which he asserted that Price owed to him. To that suggestion, Price responded that theretofore he had paid that amount to the defendant and

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urged defendant to go with him to see a Mrs. Smith, by whom Price declared that he could “prove” the correctness of that statement. Defendant declined and refused to be thus convinced of his asserted error with reference to his claim on Price. Although aside from the fact that each told the other that he was “crazy”, neither defendant nor Price “spoke a cross word”. Immediately following that “quarrel” defendant went to his cabin (number 13) and Price accompanied Bullock to the front of the cabin that was occupied by the latter (number 11), where they found Mrs. Bullock seated upon a bench and upon which both Price and Bullock also thereupon sat. Within two or three minutes (or possibly three or four minutes) next ensuing, Price arose and went to one comer of the cabin that was occupied by defendant, where in a listening attitude he remained for a space of three or four minutes; thereupon he entered defendant’s cabin. A few minutes later, upon emerging therefrom he carried an unloaded rifle that was the property of defendant. Thereupon he returned to the seat that theretofore had been occupied by him on the bench that was located in front of Bullock’s cabin. At that time and place Bullock, his wife and another woman (Price’s housekeeper) were present. Within “quite a few minutes” thereafter, defendant’s wife joined those who were thus assembled and then and there asked Price to give to her not only the dollar which defendant had asserted that Price owed to him, but also defendant’s rifle whielj Price had retained in his possession. To that request Price replied, “I don’t owe Wells (defendant) no dollar; I paid the dollar. I ain’t going to give you the gun; I will keep the gun”. And as further was stated by the witness who gave that testimony, “While she was prevailing with Price for the gun Mr. Wells (defendant) come out and yelled ‘Look out!’ The gun (in the hands of defendant) went off when I got off the bench . . . By the time I got three or four feet from the back end of the house he made the second shot . . . By the time she (Bullock’s wife) got in (the rear door of the cabin) and I fastened the door the third shot went off”.